PREVIEW Oxford United v Portsmouth

A full guide to Saturday's Sky Bet League 1 game at Grenoble Road

18 January 2019

Oxford United welcome the leaders on Saturday as they take on Portsmouth.

Tickets will remain available ONLINE ONLY until midday on Saturday via www.oufctickets.co.uk and we recommend using the Print at Home function. There will be no sales directly from the ticket office on the day.

TEAM NEWS

United received international clearance this morning for new signing Ahmed Kashi who signed on loan from Troyes yesterday. The former Charlton midfielder is involved for the first time while fellow new boys Jordan Graham and Mark Sykes are part of a home squad for the first time after four away games in a row for the U's.

Jamie Hanson is hoping to be involved after a dead leg and challenges Sam Long for the right back slot while Samir Carruthers is back in full training and is likely to be eased back with a spot on the bench.

Cameron Norman this morning completed a transfer to Walsall while Charlie Raglan joined Cheltenham on loan earlier in the week.

See Karl Robinson, Ahmed Kashi and Sam Long previewing the game in iFollow right now.

The OppositionThere will be no return for former United midfielder Danny Rose who left Pompey for League 2 strugglers Swindon Town yesterday. Lee Brown and Ben Close are both back in contention for Pompey after injury while Bryn Morris could make his debut after signing from Shrewsbury.

However Andre Green has been recalled from his loan spell by Aston Villa and the Blues are still missing Oli Hawkins (calf), Luke McGee (wrist) and Nathan Thompson (hamstring).

For a full guide to transport options, parking and buses CLICK HEREThe Football Special Buses are running as usual on Saturday.

On The DayThe gate behind the North Stand WILL be in operation, meaning no transfer from one end of the ground to the other behind that stand. All car parks are open: we will tweet if/when the east car park is full.

The covers were on the pitch last night and will be tonight if required but no problems are anticipated with the pitch.

Guest Of HonourWe are delighted to have former United and Portsmouth midfielder Dave Waterman as our special guest tomorrow. Make Dave welcome and read a great interview with him in the Match Programme.

Away FansIf you are a Pompey fan travelling to the game then a full Supporters Guide is available here: OUFCAwayDayInfo.pdf

In MemoriamThere will be a minute's applause before the game in honour of the fans, former staff and ex players who passed away in 2018.

FamilyOxford United pride ourselves on providing a great atmosphere for families to enjoy. We have a full Family Guide to games available here: OUFC Family Guide

Family RoomThe Family Room is open for this game and features activities and games for young fans plus a chance to meet players before kick-off. It is free to join the fun and you can find it in the corner of the South and East Stands from 1.30pm onwards

CoverageiFollow is available with the full game LIVE to hear in the UK and Ireland and to see if you are overseas.There will be reaction from the key men after the game, and you can follow all the action on Twitter at @OUFCOfficial and on this site with our OUFC Live coverage.

REPORT Oxford United 2 Portsmouth 1

U's power past leaders Pompey. Full time report

19 January 2019

Chris Wi

Oxford United picked the perfect moment to turn in their best performance of the season to beat Portsmouth 2-1 this afternoon. First half goals from Cameron Brannagan and James Henry gave United a valuable three points despite Brett Pitman netting for the visitors in the second half. But it was a flowing, fiercely committed display that gave the home fans the most to cheer about.

United got at the leaders from the very start and both centre halves went close with headers; Rob Dickie headed a fifth minute corner wide of the mark and Curtis Nelson had a 21st minute effort caught by keeper Craig MacGillivray. Gavin Whyte exposed his full back a couple of times at pace and Jordan Graham showed some neat touches on his second home debut while Jamie Mackie chased, challenged, harried and hurried defenders if they were foolish enough to try and take a touch in a frantic opening.

Pompey had a decent effort from Gareth Evans go just wide after 22 minutes but United had been the better team and were in front midway through the half with a fine strike. If you trace it back far enough you will find Simon Eastwood only just clearing under pressure from Jamal Lowe after losing his footing. From that hurried clearance Whyte set the ball rolling from a Henry pass, allowing Brannagan to touch the ball in to space and then hit it powerfully past the keeper from 22 yards out. Good goal, good player.

Pompey were provoked and Lowe was perhaps lucky to stay on the pitch after leading with his elbow and catching Hanson as they challenged on halfway. That was pretty much summed up their first half in which Eastwood was untroubled and the U’s gave every ounce of effort for the cause and were deservedly 2-0 up right on the break. Graham this time started it all off with some clever wing play and a ball into Mackie who turned down the invitation to shoot and instead worked it back for Henry who hammered the ball in to the roof of the net for 2-0.

It could easily have been three or four within ten minutes of the resumption. Whyte and Graham were creating chaos on the wings and Mackie, Hanson and Brannagan all went desperately close with well-struck shots from inside the box. Hanson, by the way, had a stormer, throwing himself into challenges, using the ball well and looking very accomplished in his right-back role.

Portsmouth have one thing on their bench that United don't currently have: a proven goalscorer at this level. Having only just come on, Pitman looked to have no chance when a cross came in behind him. However, with tremendous athleticism he bicycle-kicked it past the startled Eastwood and suddenly we had a game on our hands again.

To their enormous credit, United refused to just sit deep and try to protect their now one-goal lead. Dickie almost doubled the lead with a header on 70 and the final quarter of the game became more end to end than Karl Robinson would maybe have liked for his 50th game in charge of the U's.

When needed, Nelson and Dickie defended well but in reality everyone involved did their jobs extremely well. There were cameos from new signing Ahmed Kashi and Marcus Browne, there was some clever game management, and most importantly of all there were three points.

A good first home game of the year, now United have to ensure it is not a false dawn. Upwards and onwards.

Portsmouth Ticket Reminder

Saturday's game is ALL TICKET against Pompey

16 January 2019

A reminder that Saturday's Sky Bet League 1 game at home to Portsmouth is ALL TICKET.

Portsmouth have already sold out of their full allocation which should make for a great atmosphere, but with that in mind you need to have been on the Oxford United database since before Christmas and have a purchase history with us to buy tickets in the home areas.